Dr. Michael Penn co-wrote Finding Your North to help young people discover their futures in technology.

At the Gladstone Institute, a research institution affiliated with the University of California-San Francisco, he continues to pursue that passion as vice president of diversity and outreach.

With Dr. Samuel Dismond, M.D., M.B.A., he is leading a startup termo.io exploring how to accurately identify emotions and improve the way people understand them.

Michael L. Penn, Jr, is a physician scientist committed to empowering others. He currently serves as Vice President of Diversity, Outreach, and Mentoring at the Gladstone Institutes, a premier biomedical research enterprise in San Francisco. He is also CEO of terma.io, a startup harnessing cloud technology and machine learning to increase emotional intelligence. The technology allows accurate identification of emotions, even if the person is not aware of the exact emotional message.

Previously, he worked for more than 8 years at Genentech Inc. in marketing and business development roles of increasing responsibility. Michael co-founded the non-profit Building Diversity in Science and co-authored a book, Finding Your North, dedicated to encouraging students to pursue careers in science. He also previously served as one of seven Commissioners responsible for overseeing and setting policy for San Francisco’s Department of Public Health. He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Morehouse College and earned a combined MD-PhD from the University of California, San Francisco.